The present invention relates generally to facsimile transmission equipment and scanned image text processing. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for entry and verification of the recipient's fax number using user-circled region detection.
When sending a facsimile or fax it is common practice to include a cover sheet or transmittal sheet that contains the name of the recipient, the name of the author, the number of pages being transmitted and other useful routing information. It is quite common to include the recipient's fax number on the cover sheet, so that the sender will have a record of the fax transmission and the number to which the fax transmission was sent.
In many offices, multiple users share a common fax machine. Thus the document to be faxed and the associated fax transmittal cover sheet are typically prepared at the document preparer's work station and then taken to the fax machine where the documents are placed, face-down, on the input tray of the fax machine. The sender must, of course, enter the recipient's fax number by keying it in through the dial-pad buttons provided on the fax machine.
The problem with this conventional fax-sending technique is that the fax cover sheet ends up face-down on the input tray, where the recipient's fax number, printed or typed on the first page or cover sheet, is no longer visible. Thus the sender must first write the number down on a scratch pad before placing the document on the input tray. This intermediate scratch pad step makes the entire process less efficient and introduces the possibility of fax number transcription errors.
The present invention solves the problem through a document image analysis system that identifies the recipient's fax number on the facsimile transmittal cover sheet or first page of the document and then enters the identified number directly into the dialer of the fax machine. More specifically, the system incorporates a document image analysis system that identifies user-circled regions within the digitized image of the first page or transmittal sheet. The system performs optical character recognition on the user-circled region (i.e., the recipient's fax number) and places the recognized digits in the memory of the fax machine's dialer module.
The system includes an interactive confirmation system to allow the sender to verify that the entered number is correct. The preferred embodiment employs multi-modal verification in the form of on-screen alphanumeric display and synthesized speech.
While user-circled fax numbers serve as the most common form of input, the system can also be used to recognize user-circled recipient names, which are then looked up in a database of stored fax numbers within the fax machine.
The system is quite easy to use, because all the sender must do is circle the recipient's fax number or name on the cover sheet and the system does the rest. The user-circled region extraction process is quite robust and will correctly identify the location of the fax number or name even if the sender does not draw a fully-closed circle.
For a more complete understanding of the invention, its objects and advantages, refer to the following specification and to the accompanying drawings.